2. The 80mm f/2 is one of the fastest medium format lenses available. f/2 = narrow depth of field for portraits, etc.

3. I've recently started following photographer Jose Villa (a wedding photographer in California). He uses a Contax 645 almost exclusively and gets amazing results. Of course, most of that is because he's amazingly talented! (http://josevillablog.com/).

The damn things have gone up in price so much recently that I don't think I can afford one anymore.

It's still a great system -- straightforward, easy-to-use with great lenses. What's not to like?

I still have mine -- I've sold a few bits (like the waist level finder) off for ridiculous prices over the last couple years, but still have most of it. I haven't used it in probably well over 2 years. I should probably use it or sell it. But it's really hard to part with.

I agree -- for the price of the Contax, you get a a heck of a nice 6x6 or 6x7. Why not 6x8 or 6x9?...And if you want fast, get the 80/1.9 Mamiya lens for the M645 -- you could probably buy at least 5 for the price of one Zeiss.

It is the latest in a line of follow the leader. Film goes away, comes back a little along with medium format and Fuji is back in the instant polaroid business. Everything that was seems to come back like the hands of the clock to midnight. The lenses are very good but not that much better then Pentax and certain Hasselblad. Not that many were built so prices of what's left are very high. Another case of what I should have stuck in the back of the closet rather then giving away at a fire sale price. Then I would have only recovered 50% of what I paid, oh well.

Tariq Gibran wrote:
The same except you would be stuck using Mamiya instead of Contax/ Zeiss! I know which one I would prefer.

Me too! I compared Zeiss Hasselblad with Mamiya M645 at 50mm and 80mm, and they're pretty much the same for IQ. OTOH, the Mamiya lenses are much less expensive, much smaller and much lighter. I haven't tried Contax 645, 'cause I'm trying to cut back.

weezintrumpete wrote:
3. I've recently started following photographer Jose Villa (a wedding photographer in California). He uses a Contax 645 almost exclusively and gets amazing results. Of course, most of that is because he's amazingly talented! (http://josevillablog.com/).

Very inspiring, he makes beautiful images, thank you for sharing that with us! I don't think he does anything particularly unique, I know a lot of other photographers with a similar style and that produce very similar images. But he does the basics very, very well and keeps things simple - which is the key to so many things in life I guess. Not exactly the sort of wedding images I like, but I really admire his compositions, his use of light at times.